City Council

Oak Harbor City Council Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 This was both a physical meeting location and a virtual meeting. Meeting was viewable via YouTube at www.youtube.com/cityofoakharbor, on Facebook, and on Cable Channel 10/HD 1090 following the meeting. CALL TO ORDER Call To Order and Native Lands Acknowledgement - Mayor Pro Tem Hizon called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. She included the acknowledgement that the meeting was being held on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people and paid respect to those past and present. Invocation – Led by Pastor James Sanchez, Life Church. . Pledge of Allegiance – Led by Councilmember Wiegenstein. ROLL CALL City Council Present: Staff Present/Videoconference Mayor Ronnie Wright - absent City Administrator Sabrina Combs Mayor Pro Tem Tara Hizon Deputy City Administrator David Goldman Councilmember Jim Woessner - absent Parks and Recreation Director Brian Smith Councilmember Bryan Stucky Police Chief Tony Slowik Councilmember Eric Marshall Police Captain Kevin Barton Councilmember Christopher Wiegenstein Fire Chief Travis Anderson Councilmember Barbara Armes City Engineer Alex Warner Councilmember James P. Marrow Communications Officer Magi Aguilar Executive Services Coordinator Macalle Finkle City Clerk Julie Nester Also in attendance: City Attorney Lisa Marshall of Kenyon Disend, PLLC and Attorney Kim Waldbaum, of KMB Lawyers EXCUSE ABSENT COUNCILMEMBERS Mayor Pro Tem Hizon greeted all in attendance and noted she was presiding at the request of Mayor Wright. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted Councilmember Woessner had asked to be excused and called for a motion to excuse him. Motion: Councilmember Marshall moved to excuse Councilmember Woessner, seconded by Coun- cilmember Wiegenstein. The vote on the motion passed unanimously. 1. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Pro Tem Hizon announced the first item on the agenda was an Executive Session per RCW 42.30.110 (i) to discuss with legal counsel litigation or potential litigation, and per RCW 42.30.110 (c) Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 1 of 7 to consider the minimum price at which real estate will be offered for sale or lease. The anticipated duration of the executive session was fifteen minutes. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted action might or might not be taken upon return to the open session of the meeting. Executive sessions are not open to the public. The Council entered into executive session at 5:34 p.m. At 5:49 p.m. the Council came out of executive session and resumed the open session of the meet- ing. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted no action would be taken at this time regarding the matters dis- cussed. 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mayor Pro Tem Hizon requested any changes to the regular agenda. Hearing none, she requested a motion for approval. Motion: Councilmember Wiegenstein moved to approve the regular agenda as presented. Coun- cilmember Marrow seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted members of the public could comment on Consent Agenda items or sub- jects of interest not listed on the agenda at this time and there would be an opportunity to comment on the remaining Agenda items during the meeting as appropriate. The public may also visit the City’s website prior to meetings for methods to submit public comments, or contact the City Clerk, Julie Nester, by phone or email. When submitting comments, please include your name and address. Public comments sent anonymously or from a non-verifiable address will be shared with the Mayor and Council but will not be displayed. Comments on public hearing items will be taken during the public hearings portion of the meeting. The City received three new public comments since the last regular meeting. Comments were received from: 1. Ty Welch of outside the Oak Harbor city limits, in opposition to a Business & Occupation Tax. 2. Alfred Hauge of Oak Harbor, regarding the poor design of the City’s current utility billing system. (It was noted that the system is scheduled to be replaced). 3. Teresa Rose of Oak Harbor, in concern over an increase in jet noise. The comments were displayed. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon asked if there were any members of the public present who wished to speak to any other items not listed on the agenda or on the consent agenda. She noted the Clerk would call on speakers in the order in which they signed in to speak. Mayor Wright asked speakers to please step forward to the microphone and state their name and address, and to please limit comments to three minutes. 1. Sandi Peterson of Oak Harbor shared that a memorial service for former City Councilmember Jim Campbell would be held on June 7, 2025 at Family Bible Church. Hearing no one else with a desire to address the Council, the public comment period was closed. 4. CONSENT AGENDA Consent Items Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 2 of 7  a. Approval of Minutes: City Council Meeting of May 20, 2025, and City Council Workshop of May 27, 2025 b. Approval of Payroll and Accounts Payable Vouchers c. Ault Field Pump Station Electrical Rehabilitation – Final Contract Voucher Mayor Pro Tem Hizon called for any changes to the consent agenda. Hearing none she called for a motion for approval. Motion: Councilmember Wiegenstein moved to approve the consent agenda. Councilmember Marrow seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 5. MAYOR & COUNCIL COMMENTS a. Mayor’s Comments Mayor Pro Tem Hizon provided the following comments on behalf of Mayor Wright: • Pathways to Stability Task Force: The task force established by Mayor Wright and Police Chief Slowik to address homelessness concerns will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, June 11th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Student Union Building at Oak Harbor High School. The task force will give an update on what they have been working on and answer questions regarding the unhoused community in Oak Harbor. • The Wright Blend – Barbeque and Conversation with the Mayor: Our next Wright Blend will be hosted at Catalina Park, 1301 SE Catalina Drive, on Friday, June 20th from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. Come and “grill” Mayor Wright and share your ideas and questions. A barbeque meal will be provided. Please sign up on the City’s website to let us know how many to prepare for. • Congratulations to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Culinary Specialists: NASWI’s chefs were honored at the Annual Armed Forces Culinary Training Exercise in Bremerton last month. They were awarded: o First place in the Chili and Garnish competitions o Second place with their Wings, Cake Decoration and Hors d’oeuvres o Third place with their ribs and dessert submissions. • Congratulations to Oak Harbor Athletes: The Northwest Conference announced the all-league selections for baseball and girls’ tennis. Congratulations to Maddie Mays (2nd team tennis), Jayson Champignon (1st team baseball), Connor Cash (2nd team baseball), and Brayden Rupp (2nd team baseball). • The Wildcat Track team had a fantastic district meet this past week with 11 athletes qualifying for the state meet in Tacoma. Wildcats who qualified include Addisen Boyer, Payton Champi- gnon, Kailynn LaRue, Jenesis Lowery, Madelynne Brooks, Olivia Hudson, Lily Grubbs, Payton Stogsdill, Cayden Hartman, Isaac Kitchen, and Alejandro Gueits • The Wildcat girls did it again. Fresh off breaking the school and meet record in the 4x2 relay, the same quartet of girls set the meet and school record in the 4x1 relay with a blazing time of 48.01. They girls now have the fastest time in the state for both the 4x1 and 4x2 relays. Next up for the girls is the 3A state meet in Tacoma • Parks and Public Works are conducting maintenance this week: Fort Nugent: Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 3 of 7  o Replacing the broken slide. The area around the slide will be closed but all other amen- ities are open o Anticipate being open to the public beginning Friday June 6 Navy Gateway Park: o Joint plane cleaning scheduled on Friday, June 6 with the Navy. o Flag will be replaced as well (we received a lot of public concern about the flag) • Association of Washington Cities Annual Conference: Mayor Wright, members of the City Coun- cil and Deputy City Administrator and Finance Director David Goldman will attend the AWC Annual Conference June 24-27th in Kennewick. City-focused sessions provide an opportunity for municipal officials to engage with statewide leaders, share ideas and successes among peers, and return home with innovative ideas and valuable contacts. • Pirates and Mermaids: The City’s Parks and Recreation team presents a new fun event for all ages! Saturday, June 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Shipwreck Shores and Windjammer Park. Free activities, Food Vendors, a performance by the Shifty Sailors from 11:00 – noon, and a pirate and mermaid and costume contest at noon. • Advisory Board Vacancies: We have openings on many of our City Advisory boards and com- missions. See the City’s website for information on how to apply. • Stay Connected: Stay connected to City information and activities at any time by visiting our website and our Facebook page. b. Councilmembers Councilmember Stucky provided his respective comments. He inquired whether staff had completed a handout with a listing of Frequently Asked Questions regarding homelessness for sharing with the pub- lic. Police Chief Slowik noted he had met with Mayor Wright and Communications Officer Aguilar to review the additional statistical information requested by the Mayor. He explained that the Oak Harbor Police Department statistician was out of the office for the past two days but anticipated having this information prior to the next Pathways for Stability community meeting. 6. PUBLIC HEARINGS & MEETINGS a. Resolution 25-07: Design Regulations and Guidelines Senior Planner Lindenburg reviewed the proposed amendments and draft changes to the City’s Design Regulations and Guidelines. The adoption of Ordinance No. 1953 in July 2022 made changes to residential zone district require- ments for dimensional standards and staff anticipates that fewer subdivisions will utilize the Planned Residential Development (PRD) process. Within that process, staff and the Hearing Examiner had the opportunity to review the exterior design of homes designated for construction in the proposed subdi- vision. This review was intended as mitigation for smaller lot sizes, closer spacing of homes and overall greater density. Other mitigations included open space requirements and additional landscaping. Three primary reasons drove the changes to Ordinance No. 1953: (1) increasing single family residen- tial affordability through smaller lot sizes and lower land costs; (2) increasing overall density by not requiring as much open space area; and, (3) streamlining the process for approval. Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 4 of 7 When a subdivision was reviewed through a PRD process, developers often requested smaller lot sizes. The PRD code allows the city to ask for concessions or mitigations to those smaller lots including additional open space dedication and designs for individual homes approved with the subdivision itself. With the decrease in lot size requirements brought by Ordinance No. 1953, fewer subdivisions are reviewed under the PRD standards – an intentional side effect, allowing for development of residential projects to be more streamlined. Because of that change, staff is only able to review exterior design through the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) process, which itself is not efficient. More recently, the passage of Washington State House Bill 1110 in 2024 mandated that requirements for development of multifamily projects could not be more restrictive in dimensional standards and de- sign criteria than those of single-family development. The driving forces for HB 1110 were similar to Oak Harbor’s changes to the zoning code in Ordinance No. 1953 but focused on middle housing. This new regulation stated that design standards for multi-family projects could not be more restrictive than those for single-family homes. Staff notes that the standards for exterior design are important for the community and the convergence of these two changes to regulation made it desirable to make the regulations for both multi-family and single-family projects consistent. Therefore, staff have added a single-family section to the Design Regulations and Guidelines document that is deliberately very similar to that of the existing multi-family section. In the meeting packet were the existing DRG document as it exists now and the proposed revised document. During the drafting of new standards for residential projects, staff revised the order in which some portions of the document appear for better “flow.” Accordingly, staff recommends reviewing the entire document for context. Section 5 is the new portion of the document addressing residential design. This new text is intended to suit existing neighborhoods while creating attractive and friendly new communities. Specific stand- ards for single-family residential construction include concepts such as: • Architectural interest, but not specifically a style of architecture • Calling out the reduced front setback now part of OHMC through Ordinance No. 1953. • Neighborhood context and friendly facades • Consideration of privacy • Reducing the domination of automobiles and their storage on the aesthetics of a neighborhood The new section specifically adds guidance for narrow-lot house designs and will take advantage of reduced front setback distance to the home’s living space. These concepts are introduced in a way that allows for creativity in design while not burdening developers with excessive costs or unusual develop- ment patterns – a goal of the existing DRG as well. Over the last several months, staff presented these concepts to the Planning Commission and City Council. At the May 13, 2025 hearing of the Planning Commission, the Commissioners forwarded a positive recommendation to the City Council for approval of the revised Design Regulations and Guide- lines document. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon opened the public hearing and confirmed no comments had been received. She requested comments from those members of the public in attendance. Hearing none, she closed the public hearing and called on the Council for their comments. Hearing no questions or comments from the Council, she called for a motion. Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 5 of 7 Motion: Councilmember Marshall moved to approve Resolution 25-07: Revisions to the Oak Harbor Design Regulations and Guidelines. Councilmember Wiegenstein seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. 7. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS a. Resolution 25-17: Affirming that the display of flags on City Property is government speech and under which instances flags will be lowered Mayor Pro Tem Hizon introduced Communications Officer Magi Aguilar who presented the proposed Resolution. She explained that the Mayor’s office works closely with the Governor’s office regarding protocol for flag lowering. Communications Officer Aguilar noted the City of Oak Harbor has never had a specific policy related to the display of flags on City property. Staff have followed the protocol of displaying the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of Washington and have added the flag of the City of Oak Harbor and the POW/MIA flag. In the absence of a City policy, staff have had to wait for an order by the Governor to lower flags to half- staff to honor the passing of local military personnel, a City employee, or to display a flag to commem- orate any other governmentally acknowledged event. Staff have researched the flag policies of other cities as well as policy examples from the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) in preparing a policy for the display of flags on City property. This policy would allow the Mayor to lower Federal, State and City flags and display commemorative flags. Per the resolution, Commemorative Flags shall mean a flag that identifies with a specific event, cause, theme, nation, or group of people that the City Council chooses to honor, recognize, or commemorate that is consistent with the City’s policies and priorities. Examples of recognized commemorative flags given in the draft resolution include the PRIDE flag and the Juneteenth flag, as well as the City flag and the flag of a sister-city. As provided in the resolution, Commemorative flags could be displayed only as authorized by the City Council as an expression of the City’s official government speech. Communications Officer Aguilar recalled the tragic loss of two Naval Air Station Whidbey Island aviators earlier this year. The lowering of the flags to show our respect was delayed while waiting for the Gov- ernor’s office order. The proposed resolution would provide the Mayor the ability to act quickly to lower the flags in these situations. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted no public comments had been received. She opened the floor for com- ments from those members of the public present. Hearing none, she called upon the Council for their questions and comments. Councilmembers Marshall. Armes. Marrow, Stucky, Wiegenstein and Mayor Pro Tem Hizon provided their respective questions and comments. Councilmember Marshall noted the resolution contained two topics, one to lower the federal, state, and City flags and the second to include other flags. He stated he fully supported the Mayor’s ability to lower flags but was opposed to the display of others except for federal, state, City, and military flags, so as not to unintentionally leave others out. Councilmember Marshall noted he appreciated the passion of recognizing Oak Harbor as a welcoming community, which the City should include through our actions. Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 6 of 7 Councilmember Armes agreed with Councilmember Marshall and noted the City should stick to being a community that is supportive of all. Councilmember Marrow stated he confirmed Councilmember Marshall’s position. He felt that a less amount of symbolic displays was wise, noting he supported the traditional flags currently displayed. Councilmember Stucky asked for clarification on the Mayor’s ability to lower federal and state flags. Communications Officer Aguilar reiterated that in the absence of a City policy, the protocol dictated a need to wait for a declaration from the federal or state government. Councilmember Stucky noted he was in favor of the flag lowering portion of the proposed resolution and agreed with Councilmember Marshall regarding the rest that addressed commemorative flags. Communications Officer Aguilar noted staff could revise the resolution and bring it back at a later date. Councilmember Wiegenstein stated he also agreed there were two separate issues and that he agreed with the portion regarding the lowering of the flags but thought commemorative flags should not be a part of that. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon agreed that this could be two separate resolutions, but noted from reading the proposed resolution it was her understanding that commemorative flags would have to be limited to those approved by the Council. She questioned how, in the spirit of inclusivity, the Council was not being inclusive. Mayor Pro Tem Hizon noted inclusivity was a core value of our community and that it costs nothing and excludes no one. She stated she would support two resolutions. Councilmember Marrow stated that he strongly supported the Mayor’s discretion to lower the flags. Councilmember Marshall read from the proposed resolution regarding commemorative flags and noted that per the resolution, the City Council chooses which commemorative flags would be displayed. He stated this could create the opportunity to not be inclusive, which he found problematic if these were not legally defined flags and were left to the Council’s discretion. Staff will take the Council’s comments into consideration and return with more information or a potential update to the resolution or resolutions at a later date. No vote was taken regarding the proposed resolution. ADJOURN There being no further business, Councilmember Marrow moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilmember Armes. The vote on the motion was unanimous, therefore the meeting was adjourned at 6:20 p.m. Certified by Julie Nester, City Clerk Regular Meeting Minutes June 3, 2025 Page 7 of 7